Improved construction of monitor-vessels



UNITED STATES SAMUEL FAHR, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. FOX, AND JOHN A. ROBERTSON, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF MONITOR-VESSELS.

Specitication forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,83 7, dated October 25, 15554.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern,.-

le it known thatl, SAMUEL PARE, of Boston, in the county ot' Sut't'olk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and uset'ul Improvement in Navigable Vessels; and l do hereby declare the same to be i'nlly described in the Following specitication and represented in the accompanying drawings, ot' which- Figure l isa horizontal section, and Fig. 2 a transverse section,ot' the hull otan armored monitor-vessel as provided with my invention, which has particular ret'erenee to iron-plated vessels l'or war purposes.

The main purpose ot' my invention is to prevent the vessel from sinking by reason of leakage or other cause, and, besides my in` vention is calculated to be of advantage in other respects.

ln the hulls otl monitors or tlatbottomed armor-plated vessels there is usually a large.v space, below the tiooring, which heretofore has not been utilized. 'lhis space l propose to till with cork, which, in ease the vessel may spi ing a leak7 will operate to tloat her 011 the water and prevent her from going down. Furthermore, l arrange a layer or thick stratum ot' eork along in rear ot' the entire wooden backing ot' the armor, and against the inner side l ot' this stratum of cork I arrangea stratum i or layer of plank or wood. i

ln the drawings, A denotes the iron plating or armor; B, the wooden backing ot' such armor; C, the stratum ot cork, and D the'inner i layer ot wood. The whole is to be strength l cned by transverse partitons E E, &c., cari ried across the interior ot' the hull and joined with the inner layers7 D D,ot` wood. The cork ot' the stratum O is to be powerfully com` pressed between the interior wooden lining` and the wooden backing B. The body of cork is arranged on the bottom ot' the hull, and below the tiooring thereot', as shown at F. As cork weighs only about one-sixth ot' what its bulk ot' water will weigh, it will be seen that in case ot' leakage ot' the vessel the body ot' cork below her tlooring must contribute greatly tokeepher from sinking. So, also,with respect to the cork ar 1anged along` the sides in manner as shown at O. They will not only contribute to prevent sinking ot' the vessel, but will constitute an elastic medium which will render the armor better able to withstand the ett'ects ot` projectiles discharged against it.

The great lightness or buoyant property of the -cork by contributing` so much to the tioatable qualities ot the vessel enables the iron armor to be made thicker than it could be, were only a backing ot' wood used.

The improved monitor or armored vessel as made with the combination ot' the transverse strengthening-partitions with the oppo site layers otl wood, the cork and iron arranged together substantially as specited, not meaning to claim the usual applications .of cork i'or giving buoyancy to vessels, but restricting it to vessels constructed and det'ended substantially as described.

SAMUEL PARE.

\Vitnesses:

F. P. HALE, Jr., JAMES A. Fox. 

